


After the War

by Chelonie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (only a brief mention of miscarriage but it's there), F/M, Fred Weasley Lives, Gay Draco Malfoy, Gay Harry Potter, Gen, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hermione has her shit together, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Miscarriage, Nymphadora Tonks Lives, POV First Person, Pansy Parkinson is Harry's personal shopper, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Queen - Freeform, Remus Lupin Lives, Vinyl Records at Hogwarts, class trip to muggle Paris so Harry can get laid, everyone is friends after the war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-10-12 04:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17460647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chelonie/pseuds/Chelonie
Summary: Pansy Parkinson talks about PTSD and recovery.





	1. Hermione

Hermione Granger was the first of us to really recover from the effects of the war. Well, of course she was. Brightest witch yadda yadda. She knew she was broken, but she sure as hell wasn't going to stay that way. As soon as the wave of war wounded were dealt with, and Healers were no longer working around the clock, she went to see Madam Pomphrey. She knew she had malnutrition. She suspected she also had PTSD. Well, that's the muggle term. _Core Strain_ it's often called in the Wix World, since it's often seen in Hit Wizards or Healers who use too many spells, day in and day out. But that's inaccurate since the same symptoms can be caused by getting hit by spells over and over. Or running for your life.

(Or trying to protect younger students from sadistic Death Eaters like the Carrows, running amok in our school.)

So... yeah. We all have PTSD. But Granger went and got diagnosed with it first. Went to a Mind Healer. Then when she realised that Wix Mind Healing was less advanced than Muggle methods, she questioned everyone she knew until she found a Squib therapist so she could go to them and talk about the Dark Lord and the War.

By the time Eighth Year started back up again in Hogwarts, Granger was full of praise for her therapist and was pushing the idea on everyone, as well as terms that most of us hadn't heard before, like 'Survivor's Guilt' and 'Institutional Betrayal'. Eventually Potter and Weasley got so fed up with her trying to goad them into therapy that the three of them had a blazing row, and McGonagall actually made Granger write lines: 'I am not a qualified Mind Healer.' and 'My friends will make their own medical decisions.'

(I think Potter and Weasley had to do their detention at St Mungos in the Chronic Core Strain ward. If it was supposed to make them decide on their own to get Mind Healing, it didn't work. At least not then.)

 


	2. Eighth Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pansy faces the music.

Professor McGonagall announced that NEWTS and OWLS would be offered at the Ministry in July, but that anyone who felt like the last year had left them unprepared could repeat the previous year at no additional tuition. This meant an Eighth year for those of us who wanted it. I was torn. I could possibly, if I did nothing but revise, achieve a couple of NEWTS and avoid the ignominy of facing a school full of people who hated me.

Or I could suck it up for a year, achieve a respectable number of NEWTS, and actually do what I wanted to in life. I thought about going abroad to study, but that tuition free year at Hogwarts beckoned. My family was pure-blood, but not wealthy enough that a year of tuition was something to sneeze at.

I could take it.

That's what I thought until I found out I was rooming with Hermione Granger.

I was doomed.

* * *

 

"Hermione Granger," she said, holding out her hand, as if everyone in the Wix world didn't already know who she was. "We were prefects together."

"Pansy Parkinson, formerly of Slytherin," I said. "Are we really pretending we don't know each other?"

The returning Eighth years had been given their own dormitory, and their own colours, purple and white. We were all simultaneously relieved not to have to share a Common Room with 11 year olds and dismayed to have to share a Common Room with people we didn't grow up with.

"I thought we could start fresh," Granger said, wrinkling her nose. "I don't blame you for what you said, about giving Harry up. I don't think he does either. Ron... I'm pretty sure he's still angry. But Merlin, none of _us_ had to deal with what you did, living as hostages to Death Eaters all school year."

I gaped. "How... how did you..." I'd never heard anyone put it that way. But we had been. The Dark Lord had made it a law that everyone go to school, then he'd made school into hell. "So many of us wanted to run."

"I know," she said. "I know. But you had your little snakes to protect." She put a cat carrier on the floor, and opened it, and the ugliest cat in the world came out of it. It jumped onto my bed at once, sniffed me, and accepted scritches. So sue me. I love cats.

"How do you  _know_ all of this?" I demanded.

"First, I remember how protective you were of them when you were Prefect and 3/4 of the school was bullying them, especially when Umbridge was around. Second, Harry has gotten about a couple of dozen owls over the summer from Hogwarts students, mostly Slytherins, telling them personal stories about what you did for them over the past year."

"Why would you read Harry's mail?" I asked. I flopped onto my bed, and let her cat clamber all over me.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He gets so much mail he physically can't do it all on his own, even if he was mentally capable, which is another question entirely, so Remus and I have been going through it for him. Most of it is fan mail, but some of it actually has to be dealt with personally, and he's glad to pay someone else to do that. I think your Slytherins were really afraid Harry was going to make a hate campaign on you or something."

"Maybe label me Undesirable number one?" I smirked.

"Ha! Yeah, that's not Harry's style. He isn't into blaming other people, when he can blame himself instead," Hermione said.

I frowned. "Blame himself?"

"For every single death of this war, starting with his parents and on from there. If only he'd killed Voldemort sooner, harder, more permanently, then no one else would have had to die, and its all his fault for not being as good a Saviour as he should have been," Hermione said bitterly. "Yes, he does need a Mind Healer. I can't get him to go."

"So anyway, you and me, we're okay?" I said.

"That depends," said Hermione. "Are you okay if I listen to Muggle music?"

"Depends how good the music is," i said.

"That's fair," she said.

A few days later, she introduced me to a weird thing called a 'gramophone' and Baroque Classical Music. I proclaimed it good.

 


	3. Hermione's Gramophone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More about the music.

I was legit in love with Hermione's muggle music machine. She called it a 'gramophone' and it used these flat disks with grooves in them called records, and a needle that was pushed through the grooves, to make sounds. She said in the muggle world the machine would use harnessed lightning to power it, called electricity, but I think she was having me on. I mean... muggles can't possibly harness lightning!

But those sounds! She had charmed the machine to spin the disk the right speed, and it would spill out sounds! Hermione apologised for the poor sound quality because she said she hadn't figured out how to do proper speakers. And then she said that it wasn't even the current Muggle technology - that they used Seedees, but she didn't know how to charm the laysers. Salazar! If this was crappy Muggle music...

"It's brilliant, Granger! How many different records do you have?" Daphne asked. So many people had come to listen to her gramophone that she'd moved it to the Noisy Common Room. (We also had a Quiet Common Room, for studying.)

"About 5,000," she said. "I've been going to music shops and buying up their old stock. Most of it is really cheap right now."

"Because people want Seedees?" Blaise asked. "Are they better?"

"They are loads better," Hermione said. "And maybe one day a proper wix sound technician will charm up a decent stereo system that we can use in magical spaces. But until then... we have this." She put another record on, and instead of the choral cantata that was playing before, it was drums and stringed instruments and voices and... it was kind of like Weird Sisters, but so much better...

"What was that?" Weasley asked, when the first song was over.

"Queen," Granger said.

"Wait, what? Those were blokes singing. I thought the muggle queen was an old lady," Weasley said.

She laughed. Not many people did these days. Like I said, she was the first of us to get their head on straight. "They are blokes, but the group is called Queen." The next song started, and every one of us went quiet to listen.

We liked Queen.


	4. NEWTs Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eighth Year students return to Hogwarts.

I remember when my class was sorted. There were about 40 of us. Now there were only 16 of us back for 8th year - 7 Slytherins, 6 Gryffindors, 2 Ravenclaws, and 1 Hufflepuff. (The Slytherin families were disproportionately hit with war reparations and more anxious to re-establish our characters, which is why so many of us were back. The Gryffindors were too daft to expect any problems. The Puffs and the Claws though... a lot of them were gone... either gone out of the country, and not coming back, or gone gone.) We universally hated the name "Eighth Years", and decided to rename ourselves 'NEWTs House' and adopt the sign of a lizard as our mascot. (Okay, there may have been Firewhiskey involved.) But we had some nicely charmed banners a few days later. I asked Granger if she'd done it, and she said no. "I can charm, but I'm no artist. It might have been Dean." We asked around, and it had been Dean Thomas and Lisa Turpin working together to get the style right. They made up patches for us, and the House Elves were happy to sew them onto our robes. More than happy. Delirious.

We were all rooming with people from different Houses, and not allowed to 'officially' change. (Unofficially it was a different story - I mean  _everyone_ knew that Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were together, so Draco swapped with Finnegan and ended up with Michael Corner. It was inconvenient, because our prescribed potions (we  _all_ had them - the year had been rough for everyone) ended up on our nightstands every morning, so Draco and Seamus drank the wrong ones for a few days before they caught on. And laundry was returned to the wrong place. Seamus sheepishly offered to switch rooms back, but Draco said it was worth the hassle of swapping laundry over not to have to dodge a roommate trying to have a shag. 

"What, you don't think I'm going to want a shag?" Michael Corner protested.

"When _you_ get a girlfriend, we'll talk," Draco said, in that snobbish accent of his, that used to make me swoon before I figured out he was bent. As for Corner - he had already dated all of the non-Slytherin girls in NEWTs year. He was unlikely to be dating within our year anytime soon. Anyone who goes through girlfriends that fast can't have much to offer. Draco obviously didn't like Corner, but was hiding it under disdain. Corner was sort of afraid of him. They both stuck to their own sides of the room and public spaces and didn't fight.

Theo and Longbottom were perfect together - both studious and quiet. Potter and Zabini were about as different as could be in personality, but at least they didn't have a  _history_ like Potter and Malfoy. Zabini was content to be his normal beautiful self, and let Potter be scruffy and unkempt, and as long as Potter kept his side of the room neat (which he did), Zabini had no complaints. You'd never know, looking at them, that  _Potter_ was the one who was Lord of two Houses. 

The roommate pairing I expected trouble from was Gregory and Weasley, but it turned out that Gregory owed Weasley a life-debt from the battle, so he was on his best behaviour. They talked Quidditch, joined in the casual pick-up games, then ended up volunteering together to help coach firsties with flying lessons when the Healers finally got through to Madam Hooch that her injuries wouldn't let her work full time anymore. McGonagall was delighted to have them, and rescheduled all of the first-years flying lessons to work around NEWTs classes. (Sometimes the rest of us would take books down to the pitch to cheer them on, but we discovered pretty quickly that more than 2 or 3 of us would make the kids too nervous, and Potter had to disillusion himself if he wanted to go, or he'd be stared at the whole time.) The Goyle-Weasley bromance was kind of adorable, and good for Gregory after he lost Vincent. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEWTs students, with their roommates - (McGonagall made sure everyone was roommates with someone from a different House):
> 
> Seamus Finnegan - Michael Corner*  
> Harry Potter - Blaise Zabini  
> Dean Thomas - Draco Malfoy*  
> Ron Weasley - Gregory Goyle  
> Neville Longbottom - Theo Nott  
> Hermione Granger - Pansy Parkinson  
> Hannah Abbot - Millicent Bulstrode  
> Lisa Turpin - Daphne Greengrass
> 
> (And no way would she put Draco and Harry in the same room - she's seen how badly those two go after one another year after year and has no reason to think they've changed.)
> 
> *Unofficially swapped roommates around, even though it isn't allowed.


	5. Drinking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The NEWTs students drink and share.

We were all of age. We went to Hogsmeade (or Diagon) when we pleased, fuck the rules, and we always had Firewhiskey on hand. Or various other spirits. Then one day Potter called his House Elf, a decrepit old thing wearing a giant locket, of all things, and gave him a bag of gold to buy everything we needed to have a fully stocked bar in our Common Room.

Oooh eeeee! That was fun! We all participated in finding ways to hide it from McGonagall (the truth was, she didn't bother much with us, as she had a castle full of war traumatised youngsters to supervise) and even if Granger scolded Potter a little, it wasn't from any rule breaking, but more because she worried that it might hurt someone's chances at their NEWTs. (She was giving Weasley the side-eye about then...)

"Granger, you aren't responsible for anyone else's NEWTs," I said. It was a theme that kept coming up. Us Slytherins felt responsible for the bullying our little snakes had faced. The Golden Trio felt responsible for the war dead. Blaise felt responsible for my poor fashion choices. (I'm sure he was joking - I _always_ looked fabulous.) But being responsible for whether someone else studies for a series of tests we've all known was coming our entire lives - only Granger.

* * *

We started playing drinking games.

My favourite was the Question Game. We would all put questions in a jar. Whatever question came out, everyone had to answer. (It wasn't a hard and fast rule, of course. People could and did nope out. But the more we drank, the more open we were.)

(Once someone joked about bringing Veritaserum to a drinking night, and that combined with the question game fed the rumour mill. No, we never used Veritaserum. None of us were ever that sloshed.)

* * *

 

  * _"Is there anyone here who doesn't see Thestrals?"_



None of us. Not one. Even those of us who evacuated to Hogsmeade that day - the Battle found us there. 

 

  * _"What do you have nightmares about?"_



Of course we all had nightmares. Even Granger.

Theo: "My father." He didn't elaborate, but most of us know he was nearly forced to take the Dark Mark, and only escaped because he had convinced his father he wanted to finish his education first. His plan had been to flee to Europe at the end of classes and sit his NEWTs in France. 

Longbottom: "The Carrows using the Cruciatus." I would have thought it would have been Bellatrix for him, but then, he'd seen the Carrows day in and day out.

Goyle: "The fiendfyre." We all knew about that. 

Millicent lifted a glass: "To Crabbe." And everyone toasted and drank, even the Gryffindors.

Draco: "There was one day, at the Manor, over Easter." He raised his eyes to Granger. "I wish I could have stopped it."

Granger: "My parents." She didn't specify. Potter squeezed her knee. "I'll go find them after this year. After NEWTs." That sounded like a story I wanted to hear. She definitely wasn't ready to tell it.

Thomas: "His eyes. You-Know-Who... after the Snatchers got me, he went through my mind, to see if I knew where Harry was. When I have nightmares, it's just those eyes. Nothing else. Not the Cruciatus or the dungeons or the screams. Just those eyes."

 

  * _"Who was your first time with?"_



Dean and Seamus said each other, which made us all go "Awww." They were so cute - sitting half in one another's lap.

Greengrass: "A lady never kisses and tells," with a smirk.

Zabini laughs: "I don't think I even knew her name. A girl in Italy."

Turpin says: "Luna Lovegood."

I asked, "Oooh, you're gay?"

Lisa said, "I'm not sure yet. I haven't decided if men are trash, or if I'm just not attracted to men. I definitely like girls though."

Granger said "Ron."

Then Potter said, "Ron," and Weasley turned bright red.

Granger, "Er... What? _How_ have I never heard this story?" She leaned forward, eyes bright with alcohol and very _very_ interested in what her best friends had gotten up to.

Weasley spluttered, "It was just a blowjob! That doesn't count!"

Potter grinned, "It counted for me. That single blowjob was my whole wank bank for years."

I moved to sit next to Potter, and took both of his hands. "Potter, dear, we want the whole story. When was this spectacular blowjob? Who was the giver and who was the recipient? And why did your best friend Granger never hear about it?"

We all had to badger him a bit before he answered, but the alcohol was flowing high, so he eventually spilled. "It was at the World Cup, before Fourth Year. I had just started to figure out I liked blokes better than girls, and I sort of _offeredRonablowjob_..."

I did the math, "Which he accepted because he would have been, what, 14? Horny as fuck?"

"Pretty much," mumbled Ron.

"To me, it was the single greatest experience of my life," said Potter. 

"And to me, it was really amazing up until I finished coming, and then I was really horrified and grossed out, because he was a  _bloke_ and my  _best friend,"_ said Weasley.

"Then I fucked up by continuing to pester him for a chance to do it again, because that was all I could think about," said Potter.

"Oooh!" said Granger. " _That's_ why he stopped speaking to you for so long that year!"

"Yeah. It was my fault. He said 'no' and 'I'm sure I don't like blokes' and 'I'm going to hex you if you don't stop seriously Harry' and I should have accepted the first 'no'," said Potter. 

"So when did you have sex for real?" I asked.

"Er..." said Potter. "I... haven't? That one bj with a straight dude is... it... for me."

"Wait, what about you and my sister?" Weasley said.

"The sister that's seeing Longbottom?" Finnegan asked. "I just want to check, because I'm pretty sure you don't have another sister."

Longbottom looked frightened.

"Oh come on, you didn't think that was going to stay a secret did you?" Draco said. He patted Longbottom on the back. "You two were thick as thieves last year." 

Then Longbottom started crying. No one expected that. "Ron, we didn't mean to keep it a secret so long, just... it was a hard year. I love her. I really do." And he up and left the drinking circle.

Granger and I split off before long to check on him.

I never did get to tell everyone that my first was a Ravenclaw boy who had been killed early in the war.


	6. Longbottom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter mentions miscarriage, but does not go in detail.

We found Longbottom in his room, crying. I closed the door. I knew Theo would give us time.

"Neville?" Granger said. "Can you talk about it?" He shook his head, and I got him a glass of water. Granger hugged him, and I rubbed his back.

Eventually, as I knew he would, he talked. "Things were so bad last year. And we were the leaders of DA, trying to keep all the students who were in hiding from rioting, teaching the younger years, and keeping them fed. Ginny was the fire that kept me going. We had so much to remember, so much we were dealing with, and no way to get the potion. And once we forgot the charm," Neville said.

"Oh no," Granger breathed.

Neville nodded. "She did. And we wanted it, desperately. It was our secret hope."

"The Carrows," I guessed. The Cruciatus curse on a pregnant woman...

He shuddered, and started to cry again. "It was early. Too early for us to have told anyone. I was going to marry her. I was even looking forward to Molly Weasley yelling at me for hours, until she forgave me. But now, we don't talk about it. I'm afraid to bring it up in case it makes her sad, but I'm thinking all the time of what could have been."

"Neville," I said, deciding I could use his first name for this. "You won't remind her to be sad. Believe me, she's grieving, and probably afraid to mention it to you. Talk to her. Cry with her. She needs to know you remember too."

* * *

 

I went back to the Common Room and grabbed Theo. 

"Hey, love, can you bunk with me tonight?" I asked.

He gave me an odd look. "Okay, but why?" We'd been friends since we were infants. There was never _ever_ going to be anything between us.

"Neville's in a bad way. I think he needs his girlfriend. Go fetch your kit, and I'll get his girl," I said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too sweet for your own good?" he said. "Do you even know where the Gryffindor common room is?"

I pointed to myself. "Prefect. Remember?"

"Oh right."

I went out, and fuck, did I care that it was after hours? I did not. When I got to the portrait of Lady Isobel (I know the Gryffindors called her 'The Fat Lady' but that is beyond rude!) I spoke the password, because one of the benefits of being plugged into the gossip network is knowing most of the passwords throughout the school. (Yes, including the Headmistress's. Hers was currently 'Bastet'.) Then I stepped inside and got hate-stared at by a bunch of Gryffindors. 

"I'm here to see Ginny Weasley," I said. Dammit, I should have sent Granger for this job, but Neville had been clinging on to her. "It's not bad!" I said, when wands were suddenly pointed my way. "Her boyfriend wants to see her. I'm just the messenger!" I took out my wand and held it out hilt first. "Please, someone go and fetch her, and she can hold my wand until we get there. She'll be  _fine._ You all know she could out-duel me with her eyes closed!"

They finally decided this was true. Ginny, wearing nothing a boy's shirt that was almost certainly Neville's, came down from her dorm. "Parkinson."

"I got Longbottom's roommate out of the way for the night. You coming?"

She gave me a look of scrutiny, then said, "Yeah, okay."

* * *

 

Nobody but Theo saw the two of them all weekend, and he only slipped in to grab essentials and slipped back out again. Presumably House Elves took care of feeding the pair. 

When they finally emerged Sunday night, Ginny grabbed me and hugged me so tight. "Thank you. Thank you so much." 

 

 


	7. Operation: Get Potter Laid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The NEWTs decide that Potter needs to get his leg over.

Sometime after getting Neville and Ginny settled, the drinking circle (what was left of it) had decided on an even more important project. 

"I can't believe the Saviour of the Wix World is a virgin!" Millicent Bulstrode was saying.

"It's pronounced Har-ry," he said. "Haaaarrrr-rrrry!"

Abbott patted his cheek. "Still. You're a celebrity. How are you a virgin?"

Draco spoke up then, "Because he doesn't want someone to fuck him because of his fame. He wants someone to fuck him because they think he's fuckable."

Harry pointed at Draco. "That. Exactly that."

I plopped down on the sofa. "So Drackie-poo, do you think Harry is fuckable?"

Harry and Draco both started shaking their heads at once.

"No," Harry said. "Oh no. I'm not using my friends for sex toys ever again. I learned my lesson."

Draco tilted his head. "We're friends now, Potter?"

Potter shrugged. "We're not enemies at least."

Draco smirked. "Fair."

Finnegan spoke up, "So, Harry, you don't want to fuck your gay friends, but you don't want to fuck someone who is going to look at you and see celebrity." He turned to his boyfriend. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Muggle clubs!" Thomas said. "We go dancing, no one knows who the hell you are, they just see you're a fit bloke who wants a shag, you get hot casual sex, rinse and repeat until you are done with that stage in your slutty gay male life and are ready to actually date."

"Even Muggle London is a bit risky though," said Daphne.

"Muggle Malta," said Blaise.

"We'd need an international portkey for that. Maybe over Christmas or Easter that'd work," said Draco. "But we can go to my mother's villa in Northern France by Apparition, and then on to Muggle Paris from there. We can make that a weekend trip. Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Gregory, you all remember the villa, yes? You could Side-Along someone?"

"I could get myself there, but not enough to Side-Along," said Goyle.

"I can take two," said Draco. "So that's five other people we can take. Potter, Weasley, Granger, I imagine. Who else?" 

"Take Finnegan and Thomas," said Greengrass. "Longbottom will be busy with his girlfriend, if his room is free, and we'll have a girl's weekend here."

And that was SO not fair! Me having to choose between a weekend in Paris or a girl's weekend at Hogwarts! But... "Oooh, can I shop for you, Potter?" I said.

"Oh Salazar, yes. Someone should," Blaise said. "He dresses like a muggleborn."

"I practically am a muggleborn," Potter groused. 

* * *

Before we left, I ordered Potter to strip to his pants, which he argued about, but finally did. "Dear Merlin, even your pants need replacing," I said. I cast a tricky little charm that I had mastered when I was 14 that took all of the exact measurements of a person that a tailor needed and copied them onto parchment. "Let me look through your wardrobe." Most of his clothes needed to be burnt. They were so large Goyle could have worn them, except he would have needed a wand to his throat to even consider it. Then there were others that may once have been serviceable, but were worn to near rags. Presumably close from when he was on the run? Fortunately he had some clothes that were at least somewhat new and ... tolerable. Well, who was I kidding? Potter was attractive enough, and men were pigs. It didn't matter very much how he was wrapped.

I pulled out his best fitting jeans and stole a top from Blaise's wardrobe, and ordered him to get dressed. "No! Not the trainers! Wear your dragonhide boots. Boots are sexy."

"My boots are nearly worn out."

"Yes, you need new boots, but your trainers are worn out too, so if you have to choose, worn out boots are sexier than worn out trainers," I ordered. "Now, I'd like a budget of 5000 galleons for your new wardrobe. Is that okay?"

"Er, yeah, I guess." he said.

I facepalmed. "You have no idea whether that's reasonable or not, do you?"

"He doesn't," Granger said, coming in the door. "Looking good, Harry."

"It's Blaise's shirt," he mumbled. "Is it reasonable, Hermione?"

"If she's getting you formal robes, court dress, business robes, and casual robes, as well as muggle clothes. Oh and undergarments, socks, nightwear, and footwear, then it's perfectly reasonable. Though you should probably offer her a 10% commission for her time." Hermione said.

"Wait, what's the difference between formal robes and court dress?" Harry said.

I patted his head. "Oh you sweet summer child. Formal robes are for parties. Court dress is for the Wizengamot. All of the same people are at both, but one has drinks and finger food and dancing, and the other makes you want to drink."

"What about outerwear? And charms? He could do with all of the protective charms that money can buy, given who he is," Hermione said.

"Good point. Better add on another 1000," I said.

Potter groaned. "Make it 10,000. Do what you have to do. Spend what you want on yourself as well. Anything so I don't have to think about it."

I squealed. "Potter! You're my new best friend forever!"

"Don't mention it," he said. "Ever. I never want to hear about shopping again. I just want clothes to appear in my wardrobe. If you can do that for me, then we're golden."

* * *

Narcissa Malfoy seemed to have aged ten years since I last saw her, which was before she had a monster living in her manor for a year. I don't know if she'd seen a Mind Healer. She was just as beautiful and gracious as always when she welcomed us to her home. She had left for France as soon as Draco's trial was over (acquitted, due to Potter's testimony - which was another reason I would love Potter forever). I wasn't sure if she had been ordered to leave Wix Britain, or if she chose it, but she had never returned, not even for a visit. 

No one ever mentioned Lucius. He was in Azkaban for life. Good riddance.

I could see that Granger was nervous. She had never visited with the Malfoys as a guest. I put my arm through hers for support. "Narcissa is really a sweetheart," I whispered. 

"Thanks," she whispered back.

I knew what was on her arm, carved into it by Narcissa's sister, when she was held captive by Narcissa's husband.

Narcissa immediately came to Granger, took her hands, and said, "I'm so sorry for what happened to you during the war, when you were under my roof. I beg your forgiveness."

"I... I'll have to think about it," Granger said.

Narcissa bowed her head in understanding, and a few minutes later, when Theo arrived with Dean Thomas, she offered the same apology to him. Dean immediately accepted it. 

I think Granger's non-acceptance was more honest.

We took the Knight Bus to Paris, and our group split up. The gay boys (Draco, Potter, Thomas, and Finnegan) went to the club. Gregory and Weasley went to a Quidditch match. Granger, Theo, Blaise, and I went shopping. After a few hours, Theo and Granger got 100% bored with shopping and went to the Louvre.

Blaise and I wouldn't get bored with shopping if we had Potter's entire vault to play with.

By the time we all met up at the villa to Apparate back to Hogwarts, there were smiles on every face - a particularly pleased and dazed smile on Potter's face. It seemed the weekend was a huge success.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Oh you sweet summer child" - yes, I know it's from Game of Thrones, but it fits too well here for Pansy not to say it. The first novel was published two years before the Battle of Hogwarts, so it's just possible Pansy actually has read it. (Or pretend there's a synonymous wix idiom that she said instead)


	8. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all have nightmares...

We had an illicit brewing operation, for Dreamless Sleep. Nearly all of us (not Granger of course) were using more than the recommended dosages. Granger fussed at us, and she refused to help with the brewing, but she didn't turn us in either.

We weren't stupid - not even Gregory. We all knew that we had to dream at least occasionally, or court insanity. But if our roommates were all using Dreamless, they wouldn't be awakened by screams, so no one would be there to awaken us from the worst nightmares.

By the second month of the year, it was Longbottom who worked out the solution. He convinced the Castle (how he could do it, none of us knew - some superpower of his...) to give us a large room with beds for everyone, and a desk for one person on Nightmare Watch. We put up a signup sheet, and everyone volunteered - even Granger. And then whenever we didn't use Dreamless, we slept in the big room. Then after a while, we just started sleeping in the big room most nights, just using our assigned rooms for sex or privacy. 

Even Granger joined us. She had nightmares too. Hers just weren't as bad because of her mental health treatment.

 

I think Drakey's were the worst. He'd had the monster in his house, and seen horrors most of us hadn't. Potter had apparently seen a lot of it too though, through the scar-visions he used to have in school. The ones we mocked him for. Yeah. He was seeing through the Dark Lord's eyes. And we didn't even know it. 

Mine are usually the Battle. There's this one little Slytherin boy who had gotten away from me in Hogsmeade, during the evacuation. I think he was trying to find his sister. But he got away, and I ran after him, and then there was an Acromantula.

I would like to say I fought and rescued the boy. But he was dead in one bite, both venom and a broken neck. I ran.

The nightmare usually keeps going from there. I keep running for miles and miles, with the spiders after me. Sometimes it's the day I went to see his parents, to tell them what happened. In my nightmare they scream at me and blame me.

In reality, Mrs Sykes is a lovely person, and was just so grateful that I had tried to save Alex, even though I failed. She's just so grateful that someone was able to tell them, because no one ever found his body. If I hadn't witnessed his death, they never would have known. There are 28 people who went missing on the day of that battle, and so so many more who went missing in the years before. 

At least we know how Alex Sykes died. His name is on the memorial wall. 

I wish I'd caught him before he'd left the Hogs Head.

 

We leave the lights on in the Big Room. 

No one wants to sleep in the dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pansy: *tells the group about her nightmares*  
> Ron: Do you know where the Acromantulas come from? It was -  
> Hermione: *has hand over Ron's mouth* -an illegal breeding operation.  
> Harry: What she said, pleasePansydon'tkillHagrid....  
> Pansy: *sharpens knives* Oh please, tell me more.... 😠


End file.
